Thursday, February 01, 2007

the idiots are in charge

Today's Chronicle reveals that our mayor, Gavin Newsom, had an affair with the wife of his campaign manager, who has resigned after confronting the mayor over this. At the time of the affair, the wife was working in the mayor's office as his appointment secretary; the campaign manager was also working directly for the mayor as his deputy chief of staff. Newsom was still technically married, going through his divorce with celebrity ex Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom Whatevershescallednow.

This is idiotic in so many ways. First, by sleeping with a subordinate, Newsom exposed the city to sexual harassment liability. Next, and worst, he was stabbing a personal friend and important ally in the back. How dumb do you have to be to sleep with the wife of your successful campaign manager, the person who helped you get elected in the first place?

Newsom has always been an idiot when it comes to women. His ex-wife was an embarrassment to the city, bragging about her fellatio skills in a speech when representing the city at a formal luncheon and posing sprawled on a rug in the Getty mansion for an egotistic photo shoot. (I've drunkenly bragged about my own analogous skills, but only in non-professional settings; to date, I have not posed on Getty rugs for national magazines). Then he dated at least one teenager publicly, as well as a starlet/Scientologist. And now this scandal, on top of a lesser scandal in which he turned up intoxicated at the hospital vigil for a wounded cop (I personally cut him some slack over that one, as it occurred on a weekend evening and the man should be allowed to enjoy the delights of San Francisco bars and restaurants. It's not as if he turned up at City Hall on a Wednesday morning drunk. Others are being more judgmental).

I didn't vote for him, and I won't, either. I'm generally in favor of separating a politician's personal life from his or her career, but here I have to draw a line. The amorality Gavin Newsom showed in sleeping with the improbably named Ruby Rippey-Tourk is unforgivable. It shows too much impulsivity and lack of judgment.

Recently Gavin Newsom whined that Barack Obama won't be seen with him in person, despite the fact that Newsom allegedly raised money for Obama. Good judgment call, Senator O.!

At the same time, mayoral chief spokesman Peter Ragone finally confessed to posting on local news blogs under false names. He had been caught in the act by SFist, who did some IP address sleuthing, but he fibbed for days. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

It's a disheartening day, indeed, in San Francisco. Why are all the smart people cutting hair, driving cabs and housewifing, while the morons are running things?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

yes, men are officially monkeys with crotch itch.

thank god i've sworn off them. they're cute to watch and all but otherwise... go home already. i'm not interested in working through your family drama. i've spent thousands of dollars working to wade through mine over the years. get with the plan.

i'm certainly not one to throw stones at indescretion. then again, i'm only mayor of hughville which only has a population of 2. and a huge ass persian rug that polly and i loll about all the time.

oh yeah, rock on....

Anonymous said...

Why are all the smart people cutting hair, driving cabs and housewifing, while the morons are running things?

I'll answer your rhetorical question with a wonderful line once uttered by Bill Cosby...

I've seen the boss' job... an' I don't want it.

--
2amsomewhere

the Drunken Housewife said...

It's not so much the fact he slept around; it's that he slept with a CITY EMPLOYEE married to a different CITY EMPLOYEE who was his personal close friend & colleague! He stabbed a friend in the back, plus he opened the city up to potential sexual harassment liability. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Most people consider him a hunk (too oily for me); he could have found plenty of unmarried, non-employees to do.

Anonymous said...

Lettin' the little head do the thinkin' again.
I'm saving myself until I meet the women I really love. It's not so hard, but it's got my wife upset.

the Drunken Housewife said...

I'm not thrilled with her, either, but she's not in public office & I don't know her. She was not Newsom's boss; he was her boss, so what he did was worse legally speaking. If she runs for office, I won't vote for her, either.

Anonymous said...

Why are all the smart people cutting hair, driving cabs and housewifing, while the morons are running things?

Simply put, because they are too smart. They look at the mess that is the city/state/country and realize that they won't be able to do anything about it whilst in office. Sad but true.

My current mantra: evolution, not revolution.

Just don't expect men to evolve out of their monkey bodies anytime soon.

But yeah, he did use pretty poor judgment. I'm sure there are many star-fuckers out there who would have done your mayor....

Anonymous said...

The scandal would be a lot more interesting if it involved Newsom and some lesbian newlyweds.

Anonymous said...

Freewheel is more correct then anyone I've ever known.

Power breeds libido?

Anonymous said...

Aya asks rhetorically:

Power breeds libido?

There is a quotation, perhaps apocryphal in nature, from Henry Kissinger that reads, "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac."

Anonymous said...

Kissinger was definitely in a position to know (pun intended). He was powerful and he was (is) ugly as hell.

the Drunken Housewife said...

Not just power, but money & fame are aphrodisiacs. R. Crumb is quite eloquent and bitter on the topic: women would have nothing to do with him (poor bastard is quite homely) until he became famous.

For me, power alone doesn't do it. I could not imagine having sex with either Shrub or Cheney, shudder. Silvio Berlusconi when he was in office, maaaaaybe. Trudeau, yes (I spoke on the phone to him once, and he called me "so sweet." That is my closest brush to power).

JKG said...

Ha!

Gary or Pierre? And which is the more powerful?